City and County

Leicester is the tenth largest city in Britain with a population of approximately 300,000. It is situated at the heart of the East Midlands, a large region which encompasses six counties.

Leicester is a culturally diverse city with a good track record of shared cultural events. The city’s Diwali celebrations are the largest outside of India and attract visitors from many cultures. Leicester Caribbean Carnival is the second largest in the UK. The Leicester Comedy Festival has been staged annually since 1994 and attracts many top acts to the city.

Leicester is home to three leading sports teams; a range of excellent, free museums and art galleries; a state-of-the-art theatre (Curve, opened in 2008); the largest covered market in Europe (which has been on the same site for 700 years), the award-winning National Space Centre (the largest and most modern space-related visitor attraction in Europe); and the only double-track, standard gauge steam railway in Britain!

To find out more about Leicester and Leicestershire, visit any of the links below.

Entertainment

Tourism

Wikipedia

Local Government

Although the city of Leicester is geographically within the county of Leicestershire, politically the two are separate: there is a City Council and a County Council. The University of Leicester campus is within the City while the main halls of residence are in Oadby, just across the border in Leicestershire (though still part of the greater Leicester conurbation).